Kreation Stories

 Today I will run down exactly how I did one particular Samurai Slate story.

 First I decided I wanted to try using musical instruments for a theme. I listed as many as I could think of. Then I started jotting down puns I could think of using them. Eventually a plot came out of the different ideas and I wrote that out. I have done enough scripts for Sam that I have a pretty good idea how long they can be without having to break it down. The turning point is when I have both a starting and an ending point.

 For this story I decided to use the computer to draw my panel borders, so I did roughly equal sized panels, but then adjusted them for variety and to better fit the dialog. I also used the computer to do the lettering. I usually have at least a rough sketch in place before I do the lettering, but I somehow decided to letter first, then do the rough layout pencils. Next step was to tighten the pencils and try to get a consistent look to the secondary character.

 

More tightening and background details go in, then inking, and finally, with pencils erased, it's ready to publish.

Click on any of the pics and run through the whole process in larger, easier to see sizes.

Kreation Stories

A Samurai Slate adventure starts with an idea for the theme of the puns. It often starts with a pun I've read or one Carrie or I have said. It might be one that I'd like to build a story around, or just one that makes me think that there's a good theme lurking there. Although it has also been that one of us tosses out an idea for a theme and I try to figure out if there's enough pun potential afterward. 

For this particular script, I had long ago thought of creating a private eye character for my funny animal universe. He would, of course, be an insect, a private fly. (I've never actually written any stories in this funny animal universe, but I have a big cast ready for it.)

 The next step in creating Sam's adventure, is to start listing out all potential puns under the theme. I do this by listing down all the related words I know to have pun usage, sometimes noting ideas for them, but I also list a lot of words that don't immediately lend themselves to puns in hopes of future inspiration, which often comes. As I write and contemplate I start seeing how different puns fit together in a cohesive sequence until I get a core scenario. Some come easier than others. But I have to make sure I have some sort of conflict and resolution. Depending on the ideas generated while writing down puns, either one can come first, but usually it's the punch line that takes the longest time to come up with.         

Once I have a pretty solid outline, I start to break it down to fit the format I use of a six panel page. The first panel is the title, which I tend to come up with after I've finalized the script, using a decent leftover pun. I vary the panel sizes and try to have some flow of text to fit appropriately. I may decide it's too light on puns in some place or another, or too heavily laden making it an uneven trip, so I do some polishing until I'm happy with it. Once in a while I will do some sketches on the script to help me picture how want the text to fit in context.

The start of the art is penciling the panel borders. I ink them and then do the lettering (straight to ink for that) in what I hope will be a good spot for the art. I usually have some idea of what I'm going to draw in each panel having stared at the script in all its stages for so long, and it sometimes comes out exactly as I planned. 

After the lettering I see if my pencils will actually fit in the allotted space. Generally fairly rough pencils. I start tightening them up, and try to get the characters to look consistent throughout. Then final tightening with the inks. I let the ink dry at least overnight before erasing the pencils. I do touch up on the inks I messed up with my erasing.

 

Finally, I scan the art and do some more touch up on the computer. Mostly getting rid of the incompletely erased pencils. And I add the title.

Just so you're not too confused, this was a two page episode.

The Price of Freedom

I like Free Comic Book Day for a multitude of reasons. I mean, free stuff is good, but free comics is awesome! It also exposes me to a lot of titles that I haven't looked at or been aware of before.

But I also get a chance to share my love of comics in a more acceptable way. I'm not telling people they should go out and start buying comics, I'm telling them how to get free stuff. I start a month or so before the event, put up a sign at work, mention it once in a while. More often the week before. And on the Friday of Free Comic Book Day Eve, I was asking people if they wanted me to tell them the closest places to find participating retailers.  There's also a lot of positive media coverage with little of the old Zap Pow stereotypes showing up any more.


Carrie and I were planning a nice day trip for that Saturday, yardsales in the early morning, Zimmies in Lewiston, then a drive down to Portland to hit Casablanca and a few non-comics stores afterwards. Our cat Ghost curtailed the long trip as we had to take her to the vet. We still did yardsales and Zimmies, and we got to Bull Moose Music (in Lewiston) between. The selection at Bull Moose was paltry. I wasn't expecting much from Zimmies, but they surprised me with the number of free titles they were offering. They may even have had one of all the FCBD titles. We didn't try to get one of everything, just those that looked like they might be interesting.

We read most of the titles over the course of the next couple of days so that Carrie could bring a couple of them in for a coworker and I could bring all the others that weren't good enough to become part of the permanent collection (which was most of them) in to work to offer to my coworkers. I set them up by my desk and invited people to come over and take a few. So I again get to share my love of comics! The first one is free...

This is the second year I have also had my own comic to give out for this special day. The store clerks are always surprised and delighted to see the reverse of their give aways. This year I also ended up giving one out to a guy at a yardsale as he had a bunch of Dilbert and Calvin & Hobbes books.


As another follow up, a guy I knew when part of a mail art exchange group sent me a comic produced local to him for promoting literacy. Reading and using comics to promote reading are things I am a big fan of. The comic also mentions how an earlier comic created to do the same thing inspired a lot of kids to create their own comics. Another thing I think is great. Charlie had as an added bonus newspaper clippings about the local event that included much community interaction with the mayor in a Wonder Woman shirt. I brought these in to work and put them up in my cubicle for many people to come and marvel over.

And talking about pushing my buttons, he sent it all in in this envelope with a nice eclectic mix of stamps amongst which is his drawn self portrait as a stamp that his post office put a cancel on! Thanks Charlie.

To enlarge any picture, click on it and shout Shazam!

Samurai Slate

Many many years ago I came up with an idea for a 20 to 30 minute video I wanted to do featuring a private eye character called Samurai Slate. It was going to be filled with lots of word play and visual puns somewhat akin to the movie Airplane. Logistics to make this happen were just more than I could, or was willing, to undertake, so it never happened.

But I was making mini-comics around that time, so I decided to use the main character for one. I didn't use the same storyline as I'd planned for the film, and I don't have any notes about it in my files that I can find, so it is lost forever.

I do, however, still have the original art from the mini-comic. You can read it on Facebook here.

I realized recently that he was the perfect vehicle for the kind of comix I want to write right now, so my newest postkard, mailing out this weekend, brings him back for a new adventure. If you aren't on my mailing list and want to see the new comic, let me know your address.

Sam was named partially as a nod to famous fictional private eye, Sam Spade, and partially after my former roommate, Shannon Slate. Shannon even had a trench coat. And enjoyed odd adventures as seen in the photo of him below.